Tobacco Industry Interference in Health and Media in Georgia
April 8, 2020
Par: communication@cnct.fr
Dernière mise à jour: April 8, 2020
Temps de lecture: 4 minutes
The tobacco industry is taking advantage of the delicate situation related to the COVID-19 pandemic to try to improve its image. It is promoting its companies through donations that are a pittance for it but which it accompanies with strong publicity through public relations operations. This is particularly the case in a small country in the Caucasus: Georgia. The local subsidiaries of PMI, BAT and JTI donated about USD 30,000 each to a special StopCoV fund and it was promoted in several media outlets, also on the government's special webpage. A BAT representative took to the stage to personally distribute protective masks to 300 journalists and 700 emergency workers.
This is not the first time that cigarette companies have tried to take advantage of the current health crisis to gain publicity and try to improve their image. They have also been in the spotlight for donating some ventilators to Greek hospitals in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.[1]. This practice is not new. Donations (in kind or financial) are in reality a common marketing tool used by the tobacco industry. What matters is the image and the impression that can, a priori, only be positive with regard to this kind of gesture. However, when we dig beyond the veneer, we realize that these support initiatives do not refer to a concrete reality, such as the grand inauguration of wells in Niger that turned out to never be operational like theater sets. Basically, these donations in Georgia are derisory in light of the situation and aim to avoid alerting people about the precise responsibility of this industry in the tragedies that occur. Worse, they are essentially toxic because nothing is done without feedback from the manufacturers. The tobacco industry has understood that its "good deeds" must be relayed to the greatest number of people to restore its image and take advantage of it by associating itself with prestigious organizations. For this, in Georgia, Japan Tobacco International (JTI) now appears as a partner of a media award for journalists who have worked on corporate social responsibility. The media competition entitled "Journalists for Corporate Social Responsibility 2019", organized by the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), aims to " promote active and accurate media coverage of CSR as well as to raise awareness of the concept of CSR " Five Georgian journalists were honored as " Journalists for Corporate Social Responsibility 2019 ". The award was presented on 18 February 2020 as part of the CSRDG programme "Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative". The programme itself is funded by the European Union and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS). It is precisely to avoid such situations, which in fact lead the industry to put pressure on public authorities to assert its interests to the detriment of the general interest, that these "corporate social responsibility" activities are linked to advertising and a means of interference by the tobacco industry in public policies. As such, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (CCLAT) strongly rejects them.For more information (article in English)©Tobacco Free Generation
[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/03/30/big-tobacco-criticized-for-donating-ventilators-to-greek-hospitals-amid-coronavirus-crisis/#572db13c774f©National Committee Against Smoking |
This is not the first time that cigarette companies have tried to take advantage of the current health crisis to gain publicity and try to improve their image. They have also been in the spotlight for donating some ventilators to Greek hospitals in the midst of the coronavirus crisis.[1]. This practice is not new. Donations (in kind or financial) are in reality a common marketing tool used by the tobacco industry. What matters is the image and the impression that can, a priori, only be positive with regard to this kind of gesture. However, when we dig beyond the veneer, we realize that these support initiatives do not refer to a concrete reality, such as the grand inauguration of wells in Niger that turned out to never be operational like theater sets. Basically, these donations in Georgia are derisory in light of the situation and aim to avoid alerting people about the precise responsibility of this industry in the tragedies that occur. Worse, they are essentially toxic because nothing is done without feedback from the manufacturers. The tobacco industry has understood that its "good deeds" must be relayed to the greatest number of people to restore its image and take advantage of it by associating itself with prestigious organizations. For this, in Georgia, Japan Tobacco International (JTI) now appears as a partner of a media award for journalists who have worked on corporate social responsibility. The media competition entitled "Journalists for Corporate Social Responsibility 2019", organized by the Center for Strategic Research and Development of Georgia (CSRDG), aims to " promote active and accurate media coverage of CSR as well as to raise awareness of the concept of CSR " Five Georgian journalists were honored as " Journalists for Corporate Social Responsibility 2019 ". The award was presented on 18 February 2020 as part of the CSRDG programme "Georgian Civil Society Sustainability Initiative". The programme itself is funded by the European Union and the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS). It is precisely to avoid such situations, which in fact lead the industry to put pressure on public authorities to assert its interests to the detriment of the general interest, that these "corporate social responsibility" activities are linked to advertising and a means of interference by the tobacco industry in public policies. As such, the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (CCLAT) strongly rejects them.For more information (article in English)©Tobacco Free Generation[1] https://www.forbes.com/sites/isabeltogoh/2020/03/30/big-tobacco-criticized-for-donating-ventilators-to-greek-hospitals-amid-coronavirus-crisis/#572db13c774f©National Committee Against Smoking |
